A standard commercial-duty broiler/warmer called a salamander in the art and described in international design patent No. 010,450 has a heavy duty radiant heating unit that is carried in a housing that can be vertically displaced above a food-support surface in the manner described in German patent document 8,613,077, Swiss 610,747, and British 974,759. The food to be cooked or heated is placed on the surface and the heating unit is pulled down and energized to heat it from above. This unit can be used to broil steaks or chops, melt cheese on vegetables or soups, or simply reheat already cooked food, although the experienced chef can find many other uses.
The utility of such a unit is dependent on the experience of the person using it. This is because the vertical spacing between the heating unit and the food, and the amount of time the heat is to be applied is fairly critical, especially in view of the large heating capacity of a typical commercialkitchen salamander. Thus the device is quite difficult to use, and even an experienced chef will frequently undercook or burn something with it.
In addition this arrangement is fairly dangerous. If the heat is not turned off the high temperatures--about 250.degree. C.--underneath it can lead to severe burns. Furthermore if the device is not fully raised when it is loaded or unloaded the person working it must slide the plates or food into a relatively narrow slot to put them in place. In addition if the device is set too low, it is possible not only to ruin the food being prepared, but to start a fire.
Finally these arrangements have other problems relating to their use. The massive heating unit is relatively bulky and difficult to position accurately, especially once it has gotten fairly greasy over the years. This tempts the user to leave it in the down position rather than to follow the safer course of opening it fully to load something in or take it out. Furthermore when the heating element is off it is difficult to see under it, and when the element is on the light supplied by the normally radiant heat is bad so that it is difficult to tell just what is happening. Since the device is used frequently, it is also common for the user to simply leave the heat on, wasting energy.